Zoysiagrass plant named ‘Zeon’

ABSTRACT

This newly discovered asexually reproduced variety of zoysiagrass plant is a perennial having a superior rate of spreading with texture improved over common zoysiagrass, superior turf grass quality regarding compactness and low degree of thatch, and slightly darker than average green color.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a new and distinct variety of aZoysiagrass plant. The plant is a progeny that was discovered by DavidDoguet of Poteet, Tex., of a zoysiagrass plant in a collection of plantsfrom Kobe, Japan made by Jack Murray (deceased). From these progenies,as seeds, were grown a collection of plants from which David Doguetdiscovered the single plant that was later cloned into sod and called‘Zeon’. Another zoysiagrass discovered by David Doguet, the variety‘JaMur’, is the subject of the co-pending U.S. Patent Application,having Ser. No. 09/059,591.

For purposes of registration under the “International Convention for theProtection of New Varieties of Plants” (generally known by its Frenchacronym as the UPOV Convention) and noting Section 1612 of the Manual ofPatent Examination Procedures, the new variety of zoysia grass of thepresent invention is named ‘Zeon’.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The new zoysiagrass ‘Zeon’ possess high stolon frequency, good color,vertical posture, short stolon blade length, good perimeter stolonlength, and short internode length. The blade length is about 6 cm long,having a width of about 4 mm. Mature plant height is from 6 to 12 cm.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a photograph of an ‘Emerald’ plant on the left and a ‘Zeon’plant on the right.

FIG. 2 is a photograph of ‘Zeon’ solid sod.

FIG. 3 is a photograph of three varieties of zoysiagrass plants with‘Zeon’ on the left, ‘Omni’ center, and ‘JaMur’ on the right.

FIG. 4 is a photograph of two varieties of zoysiagrass plant with ‘Zeon’on the left and ‘Omni’ on the right.

DETAILED BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION

‘Zeon’ was characterized in greenhouse and field conditions and is aunique variety of zoysia grass developed as described above. ‘Zeon’ hasbeen propagated by stolon cuttings in Poteet, Tex. and all traits of theplant have been found to be stable through successive generations ofasexual propagation.

The grass was planted in 1996 and grown in Carbondale, Ill. as part ofthe National Zoysiagrass Test conducted by the National TurfgrassEvaluation Program (NTEP). ‘Zeon’ ranked higher in turf quality than‘Emerald’ (unpatented) or ‘Meyer’ (unpatented) with color the same as‘Emerald’ and ‘Meyer’, and, as seen in Table 1, has texture similar tothat of ‘Emerald’ and finer than that of ‘Meyer’. Further shown in Table1, the thickness of thatch for ‘Zeon’ was less than all other cultivarsshown other than for ‘JaMur’ and the posture of ‘Zeon’ is shown to bequite vertical.

TABLE 1 Traits of Selected Zoysiagrass Cultivars — Planted 1996, data1997 and 2001, Carbondale, Illinois. Stolon Sod Stolon Length SpreadFreq. Texture cm/m cm 9 = most 9 = finest ‘Chinese Common’ 127.1 2.7 72.0 ‘El Toro’ 311.6 4.9 9 4.3 ‘JaMur’ 426.5 4.7 9 5.7 ‘Meyer’ 48.6 2.2 57.3 ‘Emerald’ 91.2 1.3 5 8.3 ‘Zeon’ 372.0 1.2 5 9.0 LSD 0.05 52.6 0.7Avg. Thatch Posture Stolon 9 = least 9 = vertical Lgth cm ‘ChineseCommon’ 2 6 14.66 ‘El Toro’ 4 8 17.38 ‘JaMur’ 9 4 17.42 ‘Meyer’ 3 9 5.55‘Emerald’ 1 7 6.56 ‘Zeon’ 8 8 11.60 LSD 0.05 4.92

Comparisons are shown in Tables 2 through 4 of internode length,thickness, and color, number of nodes from stolon tip to first branch,rate of branching per stolon node, stolon blade length and width, stolonsheath length, shoot blade length and width, shoot sheath length, andblade and ligule hair length and frequency. Using this information, Zeoncan easily be distinguished from the other varieties shown.

As shown in Table 2, the shoot blade length and sheath lengths of ‘Zeon’were shorter than that of ‘Meyer’, but similar to that of ‘Emerald’. Thestolon blade width of ‘Zeon’ was greater than that of ‘Emerald’, butless than that of ‘Meyer’. Its stolon sheath length was greater thanthose of ‘Emerald’ and ‘Meyer’ but shorter than those of ‘El Toro’ (U.S.Plant Pat. No. 5,845) and ‘Chinese Common’ (unpatented). The shoot bladewidh of ‘Zeon’ was thinner than than for all the other varieties shown.

TABLE 2 Traits of Selected Zoysiagrass Cultivars — Planted 1996, data1997 and 2001 Carbondale, Illinois. Shoot Stolon Shoot Stolon ShootStolon Blade Blade Blade Blade Sheath Sheath Length Length Width WidthLength Length cm cm mm mm cm cm ‘Chinese 9.00 2.69 3.83 4.1 3.65 1.08Common’ ‘El Toro’ 7.82 2.85 3.33 3.9 3.70 1.08 ‘JaMur’ 7.03 2.43 4.124.0 2.75 1.00 ‘Meyer’ 8.58 1.84 3.00 2.9 3.15 0.55 ‘Emerald’ 6.00 0.483.17 1.2 2.17 0.62 ‘Zeon’ 6.03 1.60 2.10 1.9 2.57 0.80 LSD 0.05 0.940.31 0.50 0.4 0.49 0.16

As shown in Table 3, the blade hair length of ‘Zeon’ was less than thatof ‘Meyer’ and the same as that of ‘Emerald’. ‘Zeon's’ blade hairs weresparse, while those of ‘Emerald’ and ‘Meyer’ were frequent. Its ligulehairs were longer than those of ‘Emerald’ and ‘Meyer’. The ligule hairsof ‘Zeon’ were dense, while those of ‘Emerald’ were absent and those of‘Meyer’ were frequent. The internode color of ‘Zeon’ was red, like thatof ‘Meyer’ while that of ‘Emerald’ was dark red. The internode length of‘Zeon’ was greater than those of both ‘Meyer’ and ‘Emerald’ though theinternode width of ‘Zeon’ was greater than that of ‘Emerald’ but lessthan that of ‘Meyer’.

TABLE 3 Traits of Selected Zoysiagrass Cultivars — Planted 1996, data1997 and 2001, Carbondale, Illinois. Inter- Nodes Blade Ligule Internodenode to Hair Hair Length Width Internode First Length Length cm mm ColorBranch mm mm ‘Chinese 4.65 2.00 Dark Red 4.00 2.8 2.00 Common’ ‘El Toro’4.13 1.00 Dark Red 1.67 1.2 2.17 ‘JaMur’ 4.78 1.95 Dark Red 2.00 1.01.95 ‘Meyer’ 1.82 1.88 Red 2.00 1.3 1.63 ‘Emerald’ 2.08 1.20 Dark Red3.33 1.2 0.00 ‘Zeon’ 2.15 1.30 Red 1.50 1.0 2.50 LSD 0.05 0.50 0.27 0.610.3 0.30

As shown in Table 4, ‘Zeon’ had a perimeter stolon length greater thanboth ‘Emerald’ and ‘Meyer’. The blade hair density was greater than allthe other varieties shown except for ‘Chinese Common’. ‘Zeon’ had fewerbranches per node than either ‘Emerald’ or ‘Meyer’.

TABLE 4 Traits of Selected Zoysiagrass Cultivars — Planted 1996, data1997 and 2001, Carbondale, Illinois. Leaf Perimeter Blade StolonsSurface Stolon Hair per with Hairs Length Branches Density Meter Rust %cm per Node ‘Chinese 3.3 9.1 1.7 96 54.37 0.90 Common’ ‘El Toro’ 2.019.0 2.0 78 68.67 1.28 ‘JaMur’ 1.3 24.1 1.0 62 63.88 1.11 ‘Meyer’ 2.07.5 2.0 58 28.57 2.60 ‘Emerald’ 2.0 14.1 1.0 68 32.25 1.40 ‘Zeon’ 2.324.5 1.0 100 34.55 1.01 LSD 0.05 0.7 5.5 0.9 29 9.44 1.04

Table 5 shows additional comparative data.

TABLE 5 Qualities of Turf in the National Zoysiagrass CultivarEvaluation Trial, Planted 1996, Data 1997, Carbondale Illinois Ratings-9 = Darkest, Finest, Greatest, or Best Turf Quality Spg Jvn Color GrnpTxtr Vgr May Jun Jul HT-210 8.7 1.0 9.0 4.3 9.0 9.0 9.0 DALZ 9601 8.07.7 9.0 4.0 8.7 8.7 8.7 Zeon 8.0 4.0 9.0 3.0 8.0 8.0 8.0 FR 8.3 1.0 9.01.0 7.7 7.7 7.7 Emerald 8.0 6.0 8.3 5.7 8.0 8.3 8.3 DeAnza 7.0 1.0 7.75.3 7.7 8.0 8.0 Meyer 8.7 9.0 7.3 7.7 7.7 8.0 8.3 J-14 7.7 9.0 6.3 7.37.7 8.0 8.7 Victoria 8.3 2.3 7.0 5.3 6.7 7.0 7.0 OH-1 7.0 3.7 9.0 3.75.3 6.0 6.0 JaMur 6.3 1.7 5.7 3.7 6.0 7.3 8.0 2040 8.3 1.0 5.7 1.0 6.06.0 6.0 El Toro 5.3 2.3 4.3 7.7 6.0 7.0 7.7 J-37 7.7 8.3 5.0 8.3 5.3 6.06.0 Zenith 7.7 8.3 6.0 6.0 5.0 5.3 5.0 Miyako 6.7 1.3 4.0 8.3 4.3 5.05.7 SS 7.3 1.0 5.3 1.0 4.3 5.0 5.0 ZEN-400 5.7 9.0 4.3 4.3 5.0 5.0 5.3J-36 6.7 9.0 3.0 8.7 3.0 3.7 3.3 ZEN-500 6.0 8.0 3.3 3.0 3.3 3.3 3.3Chinese Common 4.7 9.0 2.0 7.0 3.0 3.3 3.7 Korean Common 4.7 1.0 1.0 1.03.3 3.7 4.3 LSD 0.5 0.8 1.1 1.1 0.7 1.3 1.1 1.2 Turf Quality % Sum % AugSep Oct Avg Cover WtrKl HT-210 9.0 9.0 9.0 9.0 1.0 1.0 DALZ 9601 9.0 9.09.0 8.83 2.0 3.3 Zeon 8.7 9.0 9.0 8.44 1.7 2.0 FR 8.3 9.0 9.0 8.22 1.01.0 Emerald 8.3 8.0 8.0 8.17 2.3 4.7 DeAnza 8.3 8.0 8.0 8.00 1.3 1.0Meyer 8.3 7.3 7.3 7.83 3.0 8.7 J-14 8.0 7.0 7.0 7.72 3.7 8.7 Victoria7.0 6.7 6.7 6.83 1.0 1.7 OH-1 6.7 8.0 9.0 6.83 1.0 1.3 JaMur 7.0 5.7 5.06.50 1.0 1.7 2040 6.7 7.0 7.0 6.44 1.0 1.0 El Toro 6.3 5.3 5.0 6.22 4.02.0 J-37 6.3 6.0 6.3 6.00 6.0 9.0 Zenith 6.0 6.7 7.0 5.83 5.0 8.3 Miyako5.3 5.3 5.0 5.11 2.3 1.3 SS 5.0 5.0 5.0 4.89 1.0 1.0 ZEN-400 5.0 4.3 4.34.83 6.3 8.7 J-36 3.7 4.3 4.0 3.67 4.3 8.3 ZEN-500 3.0 3.3 3.7 3.33 3.05.3 Chinese Common 3.3 3.0 2.7 3.17 6.7 9.0 Korean Common 3.3 2.0 1.73.06 5.0 1.0 LSD 0.5 1.2 1.3 1.5 0.94 0.9 0.8 WtrKl = Winter Kill SpgGrnp = Spring Greenup Sum = Summer Jvn Vgr = Juvenile Vigor

Variety

Origin: Cultivar of a single superior progeny of a superior vegetativeplant selected from a collection of plants from Kobe, Japan.

Classification: Botanic: Zoysia japonica Steud.

Chromosome number: n=20 (Diploid)

Form: Monocot Gramineae

Growth habit: A perennial plant with a stoloniferous growth habit thatalso produces rhizomes. This allows vegetative commercial propagation.It is able to spread under competitive conditions favorable for stolonproduction. It has a fibrous root system that can have a depth of 1 to75 cm. It will produce a dense, finely textured turf with medium darkgreen color throughout a growing season with temperatures ranging fromaround 45 F. to over 105 F.

Establishment rate:

Plugs.—8-24 weeks with irrigation.

Sod.—1-2 weeks.

Sprigs.—>one year.

Regions of adaptation: North/South from Northern Arkansas to Mexico, andEast/West between both USA coasts. The full extent of Zeon'sgeographical adaptation may be greater and will only be limited bywinter survival in colder regions and adequate precipitation in drierregions.

Blade:

Length.—6 cm.

Width.—4 mm.

Pubescence.—Sparse across full adaxial surface.

Mature plant height: 6-12 cm.

Above canopy stolon production: None.

Internode length: 2.1 cm.

Internode width: 1.3 mm.

Stolon color: Red.

Leaf color: The leaf color is medium dark green. More specifically, theadaxial leaf surface, based on The R.H.S. Colour Chart, is 137 B greengroup and the abaxial leaf surface is 137 B green group.

Soil adaptation: Most soils with adequate drainage from sand to heavyclay loams and acid to alkaline pH.

Colors: Based on R.H.S. Colour Chart, the anthers are 4 C yellow group,the stigmas are 157 B green-white group, the culms are 137 B green groupand the blade hairs are 137 A.

What is claimed is:
 1. A new zoysiagrass plant, substantially as hereindescribed and illustrated.